Medical Experts Speak Out On Popular Weight Loss Drug

On Saturday, the Desert Woman’s Show is celebrating it’s 156th season. A topic of conversation will be the new weight loss craze that has gained traction on social media.

The drug Ozempic was originally used as a treatment for Type 2 Diabetes, but recently, many have been prescribed the drug for weight management.

"I think that it’s just really a great, great medication, they’ve got a good safety profile. They do have side effects, but if you can get through that, I think that the benefits really outweigh most of the risks most the time for patients." says Rachel Millard, the Director for the Center for Weight Management at the Desert Care Network.

The medication is sold under brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy, originally created to help treat Type 2 Diabetes, but has had great success helping aid in weight loss.

The drug itself, works by stimulating hormones to curb hunger and appetite.

The craze over the drug started about a year ago.

"What really kind of skyrocketed is about a year ago, there’s a third one that was just approved, Mounjaro, which is only approved for type two diabetes, but we kind of keep pushing the envelope as we learn more science and see such good results that it kind of brought all this awareness."

For those that take the medication to shed those few extra pounds medical experts say, "So these medications aren’t for everyone, they’re not for the person that needs to lose five or 10 pounds, they need to qualify for what their weight and their height, which is we use their BMI for that.. and most of the time, they need to have some kind of a health risk as well." Millard says.

This injectable can still be used to help treat diabetics that are uncontrolled with their blood sugars.

Both men and women see great results from using it.

"And we’re very fortunate to have a medication that has so many benefits to it, that we can provide for people. So for those that need it that meet the qualifications for it, we just see an unbelievable results, we’re seeing up to 15 to 20% of overall weight loss."

Those that do take the medication must remain on it long term, otherwise the weight and medical conditions will return.

"We are working on essentially making a process your body is already going through making it more efficient. There’s less interactions that we see with the previous medication so we see better results. And we also see it’s just overall safer medication for patients."

For more information, Rachel Millard will be at the Desert Woman’s Show tomorrow afternoon discussing weight loss management.